Automotive manufacturing industry in Chongqing faces the problem of large emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and unclear characteristics of pollutant emission during painting procedure. In this work, the site investigations of twenty-eight automotive manufacturing enterprises’ basic situation and 9 representative enterprises’ VOCs characteristic components of coating were carried out. Among these enterprises, VOCs source spectrum of 3 typical enterprises was monitored to analyze featured pollutants. The maximum incremental reactive activity method was used to estimate the contribution of VOCs components to ozone production. The results of survey and monitoring reveal that the paint spraying and drying were the major points where VOCs were produced and emitted in the painting procedure of automotive manufacturing. Aromatic hydrocarbons were the main species of VOCs, accounting for 34.66% to 88.47%. Aromatic hydrocarbons and oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs), such as trimethyl benzene, xylene, ethyl toluene, methyl isobutyl ketone and ethyl acetate were VOCs characteristic components, especially 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene accounting for 12.82% to 28.65%. VOCs characteristic components were affected by raw materials and waste gas treatment facilities, such as composition and content of solvent, operating parameters of waste gas treatment facilities and adsorption materials. The 1,2,4-trimethyl benzene was the most active component for ozone generation.